Well, that’s the condition in the center of the city. Come to the areas a bit on the outer side of the city. Now whitefield is officially a part of Bangalore and comes under BBMP. But the autowallahs probably don’t. Auto prices in Whitefield are outrageous and are now crossing all limits. For example, my home is almost 1100 meters from the main road. Generally autowallahs charged Rs 20 for the distance or simply fit in four people in a ‘shared’ auto for Rs 5 each. Rs 5 for a km was okay for people while Rs 20 for a km or so is pretty good by the meter standards, say almost triple the rate, or at least double if the road beyond my home is also calculated (almost 1.5 km).

But now, with the petrol prices up, autowallahs have made a stand (that is actually a queue) on the whitefield bus stop and have decided to charge Rs 10 for a shared auto. That is, for a kilometer, or say 1.5 at max, they will be getting Rs 40. Calculation says at least Rs 27 a km. Compare this to Rs 7/km that was the official rate, or 9-10/km, the would-be rate. We pay almost thrice of what is the actual price. (more than twice even if you take into account the minimum applicable distance of 2kms)

OK. Whitefield is very much out of the city, totally a corner, come towards the city. What’s the status at Marathahalli Bridge? The bridge is one of the most trafficked areas of Bangalore, with hundreds of thousands of people commuting over and under the bridge/ fly over. Go there and ask the autowallah if he’d go to my office, the EMC Corporation building. The building is actually 3 kms away and the meter used to give you a bill of Rs 21-23 in the pre-hike era. But when asked the price, the autowallah asked for Rs 50 straight. And that’s the fixed rate. All of them would stand with their autos there but none would take you to your office even for Rs 30.

The condition in the central areas of the city also doesn’t look too well. I remember when I came to Bangalore for the first time, some 12 years ago, things were much better. Especially in places like railway station an autowallah wouldn’t even ask where you had to go until he turned the meter and started moving. But now, seems like the law no more exists for autowallahs. And I wonder if there is any hope.

The show, called Tu Jaane Na, had to start at 7 and 7:20 I reached there with 3 of my friends, two girls among them. The first problem was that my friends were searching rest rooms and there were none available for people with Rs 850 tickets. The lowest one, that is. That is something I have never faced in any concerts anywhere. We were unable to use a restroom even after trying to talk to at least 5-6 people in various teams making arrangements for the show.

Anyway, after a wait of almost an hour Atif was there, in white T-shirt and a brown hat. The guy started singing Bakhuda tum hi ho of Kismat Konnection and got a huge applause. He made a few improvisations in the song and tried more melody, which was likable. Then he went on to sing meri humjoliyaan kuch yahan kuch wahan, ehsaas (main ek fard hoon), Mahi ve, Tera Hone Laga hoon, Doorie, Meri Kahani, Kinara, Parandey, wo lamhe, mahiya ve soniya ve, kuch is tarah, mera piya ghar aaya, allah hu, tere bin, hum kis gali ja rahe hain, pehli nazar mein, sajna tere bina, tu jaane na, Aadat, mostly the Jal band version of it and some more. Besides his own and Jal songs, songs also included some popular numbers of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and probably some of Abida Parveen too. He added lines from Ae Zindagi Gale Laga le while singing ehsaas and sang some lines of Gulabi aankhen too. Expectedly, that was loved by all.

But most of the people didn’t enjoy the show much, probably because Atif sang more as an amateur than an established singer. You must have been to the concerts and have seen instances when the singer stops singing and puts the mic towards the audiences. But Atif did this all the time and sang almost half of what he was supposed to sing, doing too much of it. Another problem was that the songs were very much improvised and there was hardly any song that Atif sang as it was in the movie/album. There were some great notes that you had never heard but much of the improvisation didn’t help the songs too. So it was something like a great band with a superb lead singer doing its rehearsals but even there you would expect him to sing it all.

To put it best, Atif’s show was like a poet’s cupboard where you got some wonderful pieces of art, but then, most of it is scattered so much that someone with high patience only can enjoy it.

Still, there was food and energy drink Cloud 9 available for free that made people (or at least my friends) feel less bad about their money. Also, at the end, there was a drama when Atif left the stage and then the hosting RJ shouted his name and he came back for some repeat performances. The best thing about the drama, though, was that I could go ahead and watch him from quite near the stage.

The ticket prices for the show start from Rs 850, and go to 1250 and 2000 for Level 2 and Level 1 respectively.

The tickets for the show can be booked from TicketFlare or BookMyShow.

I coldly told him that I won’t give him a rupee if he didn’t give me a ticket. Now obviously the guy was pissed enough not to let me leave like that, so he took out a ticket which was FROM ITPL to Hope Farm (I had come Whitefield -> Hope farm -> ITPL, and ticket between any two is Rs 10 only) which was obviously for his new journey and then I gave him the ten rupee note which I had took out right after entering the bus.

Finally, I came out of the bus when it was opposite the ITPL and I had lost some five minutes to the conductor. Coming out, I saw a stare on his face, and sadistically, I had a smile on my face.

PS: Here is a pic of the ticket I got.

The beautiful mall located at the end of Brigade Road, has paid toilets. Which is not bad, as long as it’s well maintained.

But leave well maintained, here is what I saw.

I guess pictures say it all. Wouldn’t it be better had we had just a wall?

Saurabh Shukla. Ruchi Narayan. Manish Gupta. Devika Bhagat. And finally, Rajat Kapoor. Screenplay writers for Satya, Hazaron Khwahishen Aisi, Sarkar, Manorama 6 Feet Under, and Mithya.

It’s a bit difficult to believe, but finally it’s coming true. The Bangalore Screenwriting Workshop is here. With the biggies named here as mentors.

After some hard work by Arvind Kamath and his team, the Bangalore Screenwriting Workshop ’09 (BSW) is going to start on the 12th Dec and will be there for two weekends and one adjoining Monday, that is 12th, 13th, 19th, 20th and 21st December, 12 to 7PM.

The Workshop plans to start from What is a Screenplay and teach the nuances of the screenwriting. By the end of the workshop, participants will have to form groups of 5 and work on a 5-7 minutes script and submit it by the first week of January. Chosen teams will be provided with Camera, basic lights, a supporting crew for a day, and editing facility to make the film. And films will be premiered at the Bangalore Roof Top Film Festival in the month February 2010.

The Fee for the workshop is Rs 5500 (Rs 3500 for students). You can register by clicking the LINK or Contact Arvind on 9880523606.

Forum administration had set a small stage in the center and were passing the time with random acts till the star arrived. During that time even I got some share of stage and sang a few lines. While a young-at-heart telecom called Raja stole the show with a wonderful rendering of kora kagaz tha ye man mera.

As Ranbir entered the main hall of Forum Value Mall from lift at 4:50 PM, people were roaring his name all around. The guy was in a dark pink pullover (or whatever you call it, the pics are here) and looked awesome, especially to girls. The star even shook hands with many fans while entering in the typical stars’ style and reached the stage after taking a longer round than the security wished him to have.

Along with Ranbir, the director of Rocket Singh (and Ab tak 56 and Chal De India) Shimit Amin and writer Jaideep Sahni were also there.

Well, it’s been some time since Domino’s has been giving tempting advertisements on their newly found product, Domino’s pastas. Of course, they have tried to make the advertisements such that if you are hungry (or even if you’re not, do they care), you just pick up the phone, dial their number, and order a Pasta.

But if you actually do that, the answer would be “Sorry Sir, we do not deliver side orders”, or something like that.

Surprised? Well, I was certainly surprised when I ordered a pasta and garlic bread with coke from the nearest Domino’s some 15 days ago, and the guy at the other end told me that it was a side order and they did not deliver side orders until I ordered a Pizza. Believe me, I had an order of more than Rs 200 but they were not up for it, while they could come to deliver a single regular Pizza even if the order value was much less. I was quite baffled but since it was night and I didn’t have many options left, I ordered a regular Pizza along with my order and got it within half an hour.

Now, the question is what is Domino’s expecting. Do they think everybody who watches their advertisement will first think of ordering a pizza because it’s Domino’s, or that they will thrust a pizza upon all, or a majority customers who order a Pasta? Or is it that they made an advertisement which shows things more ambitious than they actually are.

I’m still wondering. Any answers, Domino’s?